Friday, September 07, 2012

Ambient music pioneer Robert Rich has a nice page with eloquent words reflecting on the person and music of our mutual friend and collaborator, A PRODUCE (Barry Craig), who passed away unexpectedly 1 year ago. The link to "Barry Craig - Some Thoughts" from Robert's site is posted below the image.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Managing digital files for a film project is a challenge that becomes integral to the efficiency of that process. If you can set-up a file structure that flows with the structure of the film - you can save time. If you can use those moments of time wisely.....to experiment further, the result most likely leads to new creative directions, that will payoff and enhance/expand the project your directing.

Wednesday, June 06, 2012

This image shows digital sound as illustrated by its frequency along time and color to represent intensity of the sound.

When designing new digital sounds, software allows the complete manipulation of digital information that represents the sound. Individual frequencies can be enhanced or muted. Effects applied that are limited only by the imagination. Any sound can be broken apart and analyzed, recombined in new ways, then saved for use as an element in a piece of a larger sound design.

Digital is an approximation of our enviroment, but we experience it as reality. That is the seduction of our technology. When we dream, we believe it to be real . Therefore in a digital environment, we live a waking dream.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

I look for fragments of digital video that support the ideas behind my film projects. Then I further develop the inspired media to draw-out and express its hidden artisic content. These artistic elements contribute to the evolution of the film in support of the original idea.

Synopsis: Day Residue - a psychoanalytic term related to random yet meaningful events in our day that become the basis for our intricate night-time dreams. In Day Residue, random yet inspired video and media images provided the basis for the filmmaker's 'waking dream' of life in Arivaca, Arizona.

Background: Arivaca is a rural Arizona town near the international border with Mexico. I arrived in this place by chance in 1998 and never left. Inhabited by rugged individualists, artists, ranchers, prospectors, counter-culture types and off-grid enthusiasts, Arivaca is a unique cross-section of independents that prefer to live life away from authority.

Although there was no specific intent in mind as video was captured over several years, the resulting film revealed a juxtaposition of people living an authentic life in rural Arivaca, with a nation's immigration fear, drug wars, a military presence and powerful (Orwellian) surveillance technology - all on the international border with Mexico at the dawn of the 21st century.

Over the years I have captured video fragments of interesting happenings in Arivaca with the intent to create a dreamy visual mystery of this place that the viewer can get lost in and wonder. Inspired video and media images provide the film's framework.And the 'psycho-active' ambient-electronic score by musician Richard Bone provides a lavish soundscape that is woven throughout this highly textured digital film experience.

Friday, January 20, 2012

When I returned from 2-months in east Africa in late 2006, my audio recorder's SD cards were filled with sounds and my Sony TRV-38 digital camcorder captured many images on mini-DV tape. I immediately began trans-coding and organizing these digital files and spent a year on a preliminary edit trying to figure-out what I came back with. But then I stopped.

The reason why I put the project aside was that I wanted to make this film (Tile: MZUNGU) my most artistic and avant-garde digital film to date. I knew I was gradually improving my editing and special effects techniques, but something told me I needed to wait. I wanted to earn it. So I waited.

But the future for this film is now. I have the computer hardware and software technology in place, combined with the experience gleaned from previous efforts to make it happen artistically. Mzungu when finished, will mark the completion of a decade-long series of short works that I would like to make into a DVD compilation.

When reviewing the original edit of the film recently that I started in 2007 - the original 'idea' or 'concept' for Mzungu was correct. I see now that the 2007 post-production effort was only an outline of what the film will become. Additionally the original edit was not only the blueprint, but significant 'artistic risk' that now I can translate into the style that has established itself in all my earlier work.

The process of deconstructing the earlier version of the film is now seen to have a purpose. It showed that the concept was sound. Now with renewed confidence in the project, it can move forward. Looking forward to it.